JONESVILLE, Mich. — Police are still sorting out exactly when it started, but officials believe a string of break-ins and vandalism in the city of Jonesville occurred somewhere around Thanksgiving.
“This kind of crime doesn’t happen often here,” City Manager Jeff Gray said. “We’re very grateful for that. Very grateful when it does happen, though, that the community stepped up.”
A pair of individuals are accused of theft and vandalism at several locations, including at the Wright Street Park concession stand, the press box and concession stand at the football field near their middle school, athletic facilities near the elementary and high schools and property theft at Mill Race Golf Course.
“Our director of public safety [Kurt Etter] came in for his afternoon shift on Tuesday,” Gray said. “He got leads, worked straight through the night, continued to work those leads through the night and was able to make successful arrests on Wednesday afternoon.”
And for a town that has a little more than 2,000 people, these types of actions hit differently.
“It’s shocking right? It’s shocking in a small town when these things happen,” Gray said. “When they happen to school facilities, when they happen to city facilities, I think the community and individuals take that personally. That’s where they went to school. That’s where they played baseball, so that impacts them.”
Officials say trust your gut if you see something out of the ordinary because they say without your help this time, this wouldn’t have been possible.
“Whenever you see something that just doesn’t look or sound in place, it looks a little strange, call 9-1-1,” Gray said. “Let our police officers investigate and take a look and see if that’s something that needs to follow up.”
The two suspects are now lodged at the Hillsdale County Jail as of Thursday. They are being held on several counts of breaking and entering and receiving and concealing stolen property.
Police were able to recover some stolen property during the investigation.
The Jonesville Police Department were assisted by the Litchfield Police Department and Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office in Wednesday’s arrests.
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